Sonik Kicks

On Sonik Kicks, the legendary English songwriter makes use of electronic toys and a variety of production tricks.

Paul Weller is restless. I can't think of another way to explain his last three albums, each of which has found him casting outside his usual wheelhouse for material and producing excitingly eclectic records. Sonik Kicks is the latest of these, and it wears its search for new textures in its title. Weller does a lot more with electronic textures than usual here, though that doesn't mean he's gone and produced some kind of exploratory electronic album. Rather, he uses a lot of electronic toys and production tricks to goose the arrangements of what are otherwise pretty basic rock songs.

Weller doesn't have to do this. I think Americans can be forgiven for not realizing what a huge star he is in his native Britain, but he has laurels enough to rest on for the remainder of a career (his last two albums charted at No. 1 and 2 respectively in the UK). It could be argued that the Jam alone is laurel enough. That he still pushes himself is admirable and shows that he cares. That said, I'm not sure all the electronic window dressing is a good look for him, mostly because it is primarily window dressing. At best it helps things along a bit and at worst it's distracting, but I'm not sure there's a single song here that's made or broken by it.

"Dragonfly", for instance, is a strong song with a brisk tempo-- there's some nice, buzzy organ hanging back in the mix that gives it sting, and the airy production is good. But those little bubbly noises don't add up to anything. On lead single "That Dangerous Age", the electronic sheen does give an extra kick to the beat, but the song is really driven home by something much more old-fashioned: the fantastically catchy "shoo-woop!" backing vocals. Likewise, opener "Green" isn't much of a song, but it has a decent-enough pulse that it pulls you into the album. Honestly, if someone had played it for me blind, I might have guessed it was a middle-of-the-order track from a new Super Furry Animals LP.

In places, the production choices outright hinder the music. Late album tracks "Around the Lake" and the proggy "Drifters" would both benefit from less reverb, because their melodies don't hit as hard with so much watery echo. On the opposite end of the spectrum, though, is the six-and-a-half-minute "Study in Blue", a dub reggae excursion that works pretty well, especially contrasted with the relatively dry, folky "By the Waters", and the straightforward slam of "That Dangerous Age". Sonik Kicks is a good record, but it doesn't have the songwriting depth and range of its two predecessors, and as admirable as it is that Weller is still playing with his formula and searching for something new to do with it, the electronics here do the songs few favors.